VLVL(6) Ch 11 Notes & Questions 2

[Peter Petto]

205.19  Mike Curb Congregation - Before he became lieutenant governor of
California, Curb was an MGM Records executive who formed this vanity group.
Their hit was "Burning Bridges," a wagging finger directed at hippies. The
song was featured in the film _Kelly's Heroes_. Mike Curb is known as a
moralist in the music industry. That may be enough for you, but if you're
as into the music business as I am, you may wish to read on: b. 24 December
1944, Savannah, Georgia, USA. Curb was a record company executive who later
became the lieutenant governor of the state of California. He moved to Los
Angeles with his family at the age of four and later attended Valley State
College in the San Fernando Valley area. In 1964 he decided to become a
record producer and sold a single he produced to Capitol Records. He then
turned to writing jingles, and his music for the Honda motorcycle firm,
'You Meet The Nicest People On A Honda', became a successful advertising
campaign. Curb then recorded the group he had assembled for the commercial,
the Hondells, performing a song written by Brian Wilson, 'Little Honda'. It
became a Top 10 single and Curb quit college to enter the music industry
full time. A contemporary of Kim Fowley and Michael Lloyd, he excelled at
finding aspiring 'street' musicians, transforming them into temporary
groups and leasing the resultant masters to a variety of independent
labels. He wrote the score for a film called Skater-Dater, and then started
his own company, Sidewalk Productions, which in turn engendered Sidewalk
Records, a subsidiary of the Tower label. He became renowned for assembling
soundtrack albums for exploitative, 'quickie' films by director Roger
Corman for American International Pictures, including the Peter Fonda-
Nancy Sinatra vehicle, The Wild Angels (1966) and Fonda's The Trip (1967).
Although such ventures occasionally featured established acts - The Trip
was scored by the Electric Flag - many were indebted to Curb's studio
protégés, in particular Davie Allan And The Arrows. Other b-movie
'classics' whose scores were provided by Curb included Wild In The Streets
(1968), which boasted a US Top 30 single 'Shape Of Things To Come' by Max
Frost And The Troopers. Curb established other short-lived outlets through
the auspices of American International Pictures and by 1968 had amassed a
library of over 40 film scores which he sold for $3 million to
Transcontinental Incorporated. In 1968 Curb sold Sidewalk to
Transcontinental Entertainment Corporation, for which he worked. He
expanded the firm's interests into film, stage, records and more. He was
involved in numerous pursuits, among them purchasing or launching other
companies, such as Forward Records, a subsidiary of which, Together
Records, released an album of early recordings by the Byrds, Pre-Flyte.
Curb also signed talented new producers to TEC, including James Guercio,
producer of Chicago and Blood, Sweat And Tears. In 1969, at the tender age
of 25, Curb was appointed president of MGM Records. His tenure began with
the firing of the entire A&R department, their engineers, staff producers
and promotions department, as well as much of the publicity, accounting and
distribution staff. The conservative Curb made headlines in 1970 by
announcing that he was evicting any artists who used drugs from the MGM
roster. When Eric Burdon of the Animals admitted being a user and asked to
be released from his contract, the request was denied. However, this
high-handed approach failed to raise the ailing company. A champion of
soft-rock with the Mike Curb Congregation, he achieved a US Top 40 hit in
1971 with 'Burning Bridges', the theme tune to the film Kelly's Heroes.
Curb continued to write and record with his group and sold songs to other
artists while involved with MGM. He released several albums with the
Congregation on MGM until he retired from the company in September 1973.
Curb's next move was to build a political base, and his aggressiveness in
the arena paid off in 1978, when the Republican was elected lieutenant
governor. Upon leaving that position in the 80s, Curb re-entered the music
business with his own company, Curb Records, releasing both new artists and
licensing recordings from other labels for reissue. Curb Records have now
developed a formidable roster of quality new country artists.

205.21  Nixon Monument - There is a Nixon library in Yorba Linda,
California, southeast of Los Angeles. I don't know much about it. Do you
think there really is a Nixon Monument somewhere?

205.29  California mopery statutes - I guess old moperie, Charles Mason,
wouldn't be welcome 'round here! A reference to vagrancy laws and the
forthcoming M&D.

205.30  Being In A Place and 206.4  Joint in the Plaza - what is the
purpose of TRP's capitalization of these two phrases (there are a few
others like this in the chapter)

205.35  stems and seeds - the parts of marijuana that have the lowest
content of THC, its primary active ingredient, and the parts that are the
hardest to keep lit

206.5  loaves and fishes - a reference to the famous Bible story in which
Jesus miraculously fed the multitudes with only a few loaves of bread and a
few fishes; from Matthew 14:13-21 (KJV): When Jesus heard of it, he
departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had
heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities. And Jesus went
forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward
them, and he healed their sick. And when it was evening, his disciples came
to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the
multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves
victuals. But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to
eat. And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. 
He said, Bring them hither to me. And he commanded the multitude to sit
down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and
looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his
disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat, and
were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets
full. And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women
and children.

206.20  Laguna to Escondido - Laguna Beach is a city of southern California
southeast of Long Beach. It is a seaside resort with a noted art colony.
Population, 23,170. Escondido is a city of southern California north of San
Diego. It is in an area that specializes in grapes and citrus fruit.
Population, 108,635.

206.20  eagerness at a chance to handle, however briefly, some college age
flesh - as in the previous chapter, the police are portrayed as having
their own brand of lust

206.24  exploded like seeds in a surfer's cigarette - marijuana seeds can
exlode like popcorn, except there's only the pop, nothing to eat afterwards